The present invention relates generally to centrifugal separators or centrifuges, and more particularly to a centrifuge having a sliding door mechanism for sealing and protecting a rotor chamber in which a centrifuge rotor is disposed.
Centrifugal separators or centrifuges of the type described are known as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,878,992 and 3,322,338. The known centrifuges include, as reillustrated here in FIG. 8 of the accompanying drawings, a door 36 disposed above a rotor chamber 37 and slidably movable along guide rails 38 in opposite directions indicated by the arrowheads 39 for opening and closing the rotor chamber 37. The door 36 is always held within an outer frame 40 of the centrifuge regardless of its position relative to the rotor chamber 37. With this arrangement, the frame 40 must have a width which is at least the same as the sum of the width of the door 36 and an extent of sliding movement of the door 36, so that the door 36 can be held on the frame 40 when it is fully opened. The frame 40 of this construction is large in size and hence makes it difficult to reduce the overall size of the centrifuge.
Furthermore, the door 36 has a handle 41 in the shape of a lever pivotally connected by a vertical pin 42 to the door 36 adjacent to the rear end thereof. The pivoted handle 41 has one end engageable with a block 43 secured to the frame 40 when it is moved in a door opening direction. To open the door 36, the handle 41 is turned counterclockwise in FIG. 8 about the pin 42 whereupon the end of the handle 41 abuts against the block 43. This angular movement of the handle 41 causes front and rear rollers 44, 45 to roll along the respective guide rails 38, thereby starting sliding movement of the door 36 in a door opening direction. Thereafter, the handle 41 is forced rearwardly of the frame 40 until the door 36 is fully opened. Since the handle 41 is disposed at the rear end portion of the door 36, and since the handle 41 projects sideways from the door 36, it occupies a large space for movement thereof. The handle 41 of the foregoing construction does not contribute to the reduction of the size of the frame 40.